1. The person who checks off the greatest number of species from the list below by the end of 2014 is the winner. (In case that’s unclear, you just have to get one of each to check them off the list – the point is to get through the list as fast as you can.) In the event of a tie, the person who checked them off first is the winner.

-carp

-gar

-catfish

-largemouth bass

-smallmouth bass

-striped bass

-American shad

-hickory shad

-crappie-snakehead

2. Boundaries of the competition will be Potomac River and its tributaries (including the canal) from Great Falls to Dogue Creek.

3. All fish must be photographed and posted on the “Potomac River Wild Fish Challenge” group on tu.org.

4. Competition is open to TU staff, trustees and distinguished alumni.

For the past decade, a cloud has hung over 60 percent of the rivers and streams historically covered by the Clean Water Act, one of our country’s bedrock laws for protecting rivers, streams and wetlands. For more than 30 years, the Clean Water Act’s protections applied to isolated wetlands and intermittent and ephemeral streams—that is, streams that may periodically dry up—and helped to make thousands of US rivers and streams more swimmable and fishable. That was all thrown into question in 2001 and 2006 when two Supreme Court rulings removed the protections of the law from these streams and bodies of water.

Every angler understands the importance of headwater streams—including intermittent and ephemeral ones. In fact, 80 percent of all streams are headwater streams. They provide the flow for larger rivers; are important spawning and rearing habitat for young fish and bugs; and help to determine the quality of downstream habitat for fish.

This is a rare opportunity to restore protections to some of America’s most essential headwater trout and salmon streams. If you love to fish, and you think quality habitat translates to quality fishing, then please take the time to comment on the EPA draft (comment period has closed).